Spa Balcony Norwegian Getaway Cruisers BEWARE

[albo88888]

Hi folks, just returned from the Getaway and I just want to warn future cruisers of what happened to us on the Getaway.

 

We booked a Spa Balcony cabin 14146 for the added benefits of using the spa.

As we board the ship we decided to eat first and then check out the spa facilities.

So as we make our way to the spa we were stopped right at the entrance. "Excuse me sir, do you need help?".."No we just want to see the spa facilities"... "Sir, do you have the thermal spa facilities sticker on your cabin access card?"... Now this is the first tim we have done the spa so this was all new to me. As I told her I don't, she then told me to proceed to the spa desk to get one. Great, I'm thinking, it was that easy. So as we proceed to the desk, I proceed to tell them I do not have the spa sticker, can we get one. Now, I am a very calm person and never raised my voice at all to her and her response was "Sir , you were supposed to get the sticker before you board, not now"... Who the heck knew that. Again in a calm voice I said I do not know the procedures can you help me. She asked what cabin I am in and I told her. Again her response was "I don't see your cabin being a spa balcony in our system, go check with guest services"...

Ok could be an honest mistake, so I proceed to guest services. Now this is where it gets weird.

"Hello sir, welcome on the Getaway, how can we help you this afternoon"... (told her my issue)... "Sir, your cabin is not categorized as a spa balcony, it has been recategorized as a regular balcony".... WHAT???? Recategorized???? Why, what, when.... what does that even mean... "Sir, we made this change 1 month ago and you should have been notified and I am sorry if you didn't but there is nothing we can do, it came from corporate in Miami".... Boy was I livid, but I am on vacation so I said let me call corporate since we were still in port and my wife was getting the clothes out of the luggage.

Now corporate states that they have NO change in my reservation and it is still listed as a SPA balcony. We will email the ship and check back with them in 15 mins. It is somewhere around 2:00 PM, I just wanted to have a good time so I gave them an hour and a half. Went back down at 3:30 to guest services and they stated they still haven't received any email. WHAT the heck is happening????

I call Miami again and was put on hold for approximately 42 minutes to a supervisor finally comes on the line and stated that they overbooked the spa balcony's by 10 cabins and they they sincerely apologize but they will give me the spa access as a courtesy for not informing us a month earlier just go see the guest services managers Jocel, as we just spoke to her. Am I hearing this correctly, a courtesy for something I ALREADY PAID FOR.

Back to guest services, "can i speak to Jocel please because this and this and that"... "Ok sir I will be right back".... 16 mins later " Jocel is busy right now and she can't come out but we called the spa manager and you will get your sticker upstairs.

So the spa personel told me guest services has the stickers and now it's the spa who has the stickers.

 

Made my way to the spa and the manager happened to be there and I explained the situation and she said "Oh your the couple, Ok here are your stickers"..

 

This was the worse customer service I have dealt with ever. Just incompetent people who do not want to take any blame and pass the blame to someone else.

 

There is more to this story but I will have it in my full review.

Just anyone in a Spa balcony , beware as this can happen to you.

[punkincc]

Nothing NCL does surprises me at this point. Probably the Friends and Family Sail Free promo booked the cabins to more capacity than normal, but their solution to the problem, and your non notification, was totally inexcusable.

 

Did they plan on refunding you the extra you paid for this "spa" cabin? Or they totally thought you'd pay for something they decided not to offer? I'll bet they still sold the weekly spa passes for those booked into regular cabins.

Edited April 26, 2015 by punkincc

[cruisebie]

Wow, how would overselling the category even be possible? There are only so many cabins assigned to this category. What a pain to have to deal with this run around while you are on vacation.

 

Just curious, did you get a free upgrade to the spa balcony or did you originally book this? I'll be interested to read the rest of your review.

[DrNora]

Bravo to you for maintaining your cool. Cuz WOW! We overbooked?????? Right

[newmexicoNita]

Hi folks, just returned from the Getaway and I just want to warn future cruisers of what happened to us on the Getaway.

 

We booked a Spa Balcony cabin 14146 for the added benefits of using the spa.

As we board the ship we decided to eat first and then check out the spa facilities.

So as we make our way to the spa we were stopped right at the entrance. "Excuse me sir, do you need help?".."No we just want to see the spa facilities"... "Sir, do you have the thermal spa facilities sticker on your cabin access card?"... Now this is the first tim we have done the spa so this was all new to me. As I told her I don't, she then told me to proceed to the spa desk to get one. Great, I'm thinking, it was that easy. So as we proceed to the desk, I proceed to tell them I do not have the spa sticker, can we get one. Now, I am a very calm person and never raised my voice at all to her and her response was "Sir , you were supposed to get the sticker before you board, not now"... Who the heck knew that. Again in a calm voice I said I do not know the procedures can you help me. She asked what cabin I am in and I told her. Again her response was "I don't see your cabin being a spa balcony in our system, go check with guest services"...

Ok could be an honest mistake, so I proceed to guest services. Now this is where it gets weird.

"Hello sir, welcome on the Getaway, how can we help you this afternoon"... (told her my issue)... "Sir, your cabin is not categorized as a spa balcony, it has been recategorized as a regular balcony".... WHAT???? Recategorized???? Why, what, when.... what does that even mean... "Sir, we made this change 1 month ago and you should have been notified and I am sorry if you didn't but there is nothing we can do, it came from corporate in Miami".... Boy was I livid, but I am on vacation so I said let me call corporate since we were still in port and my wife was getting the clothes out of the luggage.

Now corporate states that they have NO change in my reservation and it is still listed as a SPA balcony. We will email the ship and check back with them in 15 mins. It is somewhere around 2:00 PM, I just wanted to have a good time so I gave them an hour and a half. Went back down at 3:30 to guest services and they stated they still haven't received any email. WHAT the heck is happening????

I call Miami again and was put on hold for approximately 42 minutes to a supervisor finally comes on the line and stated that they overbooked the spa balcony's by 10 cabins and they they sincerely apologize but they will give me the spa access as a courtesy for not informing us a month earlier just go see the guest services managers Jocel, as we just spoke to her. Am I hearing this correctly, a courtesy for something I ALREADY PAID FOR.

Back to guest services, "can i speak to Jocel please because this and this and that"... "Ok sir I will be right back".... 16 mins later " Jocel is busy right now and she can't come out but we called the spa manager and you will get your sticker upstairs.

So the spa personel told me guest services has the stickers and now it's the spa who has the stickers.

 

Made my way to the spa and the manager happened to be there and I explained the situation and she said "Oh your the couple, Ok here are your stickers"..

 

This was the worse customer service I have dealt with ever. Just incompetent people who do not want to take any blame and pass the blame to someone else.

 

There is more to this story but I will have it in my full review.

Just anyone in a Spa balcony , beware as this can happen to you.

 

What a mess; Thanks for the headsup. I am surprised you got any response from Miami, wasn't it a weekend? At lease there is one consultation: you finally got what you were entitled to and you managed to keep your cool. My husband would have ended up in jail or been thown off the ship if something like this had happeend to us.

 

I won't go into detail, but we did have a very bad experience with the spa on the Dawn. But in our case, even though we didn't really get the problem solved guest services was very undrstanding.

[vicocala]

I haven't heard of the cruselines overbooking before, but airlines and others do such things so it is only a mild surprise. If this is the way things went down I sympathize with the OP for the time and aggravation they encountered.

 

On the other hand the cruiseline offered to make him whole and if it had been me I would of asked as part of my original conversation if they would be willing to just give us spa passes.

[albo88888]

It was booked originally as a Spa balcony.

[missdixie]

Wow..Thanks for the info. We have a mini spa on the Escape in December. Will ask our pcc about it later this year or sooner.

[SuiteTraveler]

What an interesting post. I think the problem may have been that the OP did not go to his cabin prior to going to the spa to pick up his spa bracelets. These should have been located on the desk in his stateroom, possibly in an envelope or in a drawer along with a card from the spa. On the Epic, people in spa cabins and suites were given spa bracelets to wear to the spa and could enter the thermal suite whenever, although on the first day, they politely give you a tour. The bracelets identify you as being in a spa cabin and also get you priority appointments in the spa. An interesting fact about these bracelets is that they change the color of the bracelets from cruise to cruise so that people can't hand them off to non-spa cabin cruisers on the next cruise or try to reuse them on a later cruise when they are not in a spa cabin. On the first day, we showed our bracelets to the lady at the front desk and she sent us on a tour to see the thermal suite and locker rooms. Those not in spa cabins could buy a spa pass which was a sticker on your cruise card directly from the spa front desk. It will be interesting to find out which we will get on The Getaway.

 

But if bracelets were not present for some unknown reason (maybe a procurement problem - a shortage of spa bracelets?), the only thing NCL could do to fix the problem would be to put the sticker on the card for free for the OP.

Edited April 26, 2015 by SuiteTraveler

[garnet115]

What an interesting post. I think the problem may have been that the OP did not go to his cabin prior to going to the spa to pick up his spa bracelets. These should have been located on the desk in his stateroom, possibly in an envelope or in a drawer along with a card from the spa. On the Epic, people in spa cabins and suites were given spa bracelets to wear to the spa and could enter the thermal suite whenever, although on the first day, they politely give you a tour. The bracelets identify you as being in a spa cabin and also get you priority appointments in the spa. An interesting fact about these bracelets is that they change the color of the bracelets from cruise to cruise so that people can't hand them off to non-spa cabin cruisers on the next cruise or try to reuse them on a later cruise when they are not in a spa cabin. On the first day, we showed our bracelets to the lady at the front desk and she sent us on a tour to see the thermal suite and locker rooms. Those not in spa cabins could buy a spa pass which was a sticker on your cruise card directly from the spa front desk. It will be interesting to find out which we will get on The Getaway.

 

But if bracelets were not present for some unknown reason (maybe a procurement problem - a shortage of spa bracelets?), the only thing NCL could do to fix the problem would be to put the sticker on the card for free for the OP.

 

If Getaway works like Breakaway, there are no bracelets, just stickers on the key cards. When I was on BA, I had to go to the spa to get the sticker when I was in a Spa Suite. It would make sense for them to have the stickers on the spa category room cards in advance, but if not, it's not big deal.

 

This whole thing is bizarre. The cabin number given by the OP is clearly designated as a spa balcony cabin. I can understand if there was a computer glitch and the spa sent the OP to guest services to straighten it out. I cannot understand the explanation that the rooms were overbooked and therefore the room was downgraded. If they were oversold on spa capacity, the solution is to limit on board purchase of spa passes, not take away access from those who booked the spa class cabins. I am glad it ultimately got resolved and that OP got their spa access stickers. However, I can't help thinking there is a missing piece of the puzzle here.

[Carolina Girl 99]

We have Spa Balcony cabin (B9) 14144 booked for our June 6th sail and am hoping we don't run into the same problem as the OP. Should the spa sticker already be on our cards, or should we check the cabin first before heading to the spa?

[garnet115]

We have Spa Balcony cabin (B9) 14144 booked for our June 6th sail and am hoping we don't run into the same problem as the OP. Should the spa sticker already be on our cards, or should we check the cabin first before heading to the spa?

 

I think it would either be on your card at check in, or you would need to go to the spa. I don't think they leave the stickers in your room. Same goes with UBP and UDP - some have reported have the stickers already on the card at check in, while other have reported having to get it at a bar or table set up on the ship.

[rochelle_s]

We have Spa Balcony cabin (B9) 14144 booked for our June 6th sail and am hoping we don't run into the same problem as the OP. Should the spa sticker already be on our cards, or should we check the cabin first before heading to the spa?

 

Neither should be necessary. Your cabin is designated as a spa cabin and everyone who looks up your cabin should be able to see that. Last year on the Getaway the UDP and UBP stickers were on our cards and check in and we received the stickers on our first visit to the spa which was before our cabin was available.

 

It seems like where you get the sticker must depend on how turn around is going on the ship. I am glad I have never had to wear a bracelet to identify myself as I am not an in patient at a hospital nor am I a 5 year old in the kids club.

 

To the OP I look forward to your review and admire your ability to calmly work through everything to get what you paid for.

 

 

Rochelle

[albo88888]

The Getaway does not have bracelets. From what other guests have told me, the spa sticker was already on there card just like the UBP or UDP stickers. We did not know that at the time. Sail away was at 4 PM so I was still on hold with them the second time and I didn't get a further explanation on how this whole mess happened as I didn't want to get cut off as I was on my cell phone. That was the explanation she gave me.

[albo88888]

Another thing that was getting my blood boiling was that I had to go back and forth to guest services and the spa. Why can't they pick up the phone and communicate? Why must the guest do that? I'm on vacation and I had too deal with this. It did not ruin my vacation of course but I missed the sail away party. Although my wife said it wasn't much.

[Carolina Girl 99]

Slightly OT, but how was the room and location, overall?

[albo88888]

The cabin was good. I have been on the Breakaway in a regular balcony and it is exactly the same size. The bed was by the closet.

The location was fantastic. We were right by the elevators and did not hear any noises from the elevator.

I must add that the Spa was fantastic. I highly recommend it especially if it gets too hot outside and you just need a place to relax.

[f1mauro]

Kudos to you for dealing with this situation so calmly. I would've been arrested. I have zero tolerance for BS and NCL seems to be dishing it out in spades lately.

[DrNora]

It seems like where you get the sticker must depend on how turn around is going on the ship. I am glad I have never had to wear a bracelet to identify myself as I am not an in patient at a hospital nor am I a 5 year old in the kids club.

 

 

You got it, Rochelle

Plus they are unsanitary and basically yucky.

Think about all the places your hand goes daily.

 

I know, off topic.

[Barb Nahoumi]

I guess that one must check these things out at check in, before boarding. Make sure that all is in order.